Meeting Ix
by Lossefalme
Summary: PreKOTOR1: Exchange challenge entry and WINNER! : All of Captain Ky Dehner’s assumptions about this beautiful, exotic woman and her reasons for accepting his offer of credits in exchange for a night of pleasure were wrong. Very, very wrong...
1. Meeting Ix

**Author's Note/Warning: **This fic is my entry for the "Exchange" challenge posted on Trillian's Challenge Forum for February. It's dark and dirty, and contains adult themes and languages. Also, only this first chapter is my submission for the challenge, but for those of you who'd like to follow up on the characters I introduce here, I am planning to add at least another two chapters very soon, so stay tuned. And, as always, thanks for reading! **Timeline:** This fic takes place several months before the Taris quarantine is established.

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**Meeting Ix**

Ky Dehner was a military man, and married, but neither of those facts – nor the fact the Republic was currently locked in a war with a very destructive Dark Lord of the Sith – kept him from indulging in any of the pleasures Nar Shaddaa offered to its visitors. As far as he knew, the woman he had recruited to entertain him in his seedy hotel that night was just another woman who made her living making other people's fantasies come true.

And she was very good at that, Ky concluded after only a short time; he decided she was well worth the credits he'd agreed to give her. She was beautiful as well, quite exotic looking; he'd not seen a woman like her on any of the forty-seven planets he'd visited over the course of his career. She was human as far as he could tell; tall and leggy, with fair skin and long, straight hair as white as a Talz's fur. Her eyes, however, were the most striking. They were an unusual golden color, and glittered as brightly as a handful of spice.

But all of Captain Ky Dehner's assumptions about this beautiful, exotic woman and her reasons for accepting his offer of credits in exchange for a night of pleasure were wrong. Very, very wrong.

She was called Ix, and she knew everything about the Captain. She knew of his homeworld, his parents, his wife, his six-year-old daughter, and all the naughty things he had done behind-the-scenes of his life of public service. The only thing she had not known about him was the quality of his performance in bed. He was a very handsome man, having black, tousled hair and sharp blue eyes, a trim body and very charming smile. So when he had invited her back to his hotel room, and threw in the credits as well, she had accepted. Evaluating his sexual prowess was not necessary to her job; Ix considered it a perk. She allowed herself to enjoy the experience to the fullest, and did her best to ensure Captain Dehner enjoyed it, too. After all, he wouldn't be enjoying much of anything after she was through with him. The thought made her smile and she threw herself all the more vigorously into these few hours of gratification.

Early morning had come to Nar Shaddaa by the time they finished, and both lay sprawled across the tangled mass of sheets, breathing hard and letting their bodies cool. Ix sighed contentedly – rarely did she get to indulge in such a way, especially with such an attractive man. She rolled over and draped an arm across his chest. He turned his head to look at her and smiled his very charming smile.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "I had an excellent time."

She returned his smile, but the expression did not meet her golden eyes. "So did I," she said honestly.

There was a moment of silence. "Would you like to go to breakfast?" he asked.

Ix propped herself up on one elbow, absently tracing a circle on his chest with one fingertip. "I would like that," she said slowly, and her eyes rose from his chest to meet his steady blue gaze. "But then what would your wife think?"

His reaction to her question was nearly imperceptible, but Ix saw it and knew the doubt would be creeping into his mind right about now…. He shifted slightly in the bed; she wondered how he would choose to answer. Would he try to deny he was married at all? Would he stay casual and honest and give her a truthful answer? Or would he come to the correct conclusion that she was not who he'd thought she was and try to make an escape? Ix was prepared for any of those scenarios.

Dehner cleared his throat. "My wife is very far away from here," he said at last, carefully. "She despises Nar Shaddaa. Won't come within ten thousand light-years of it." A small smile touched his lips, and for a second his eyes were also far away. But then his thoughts returned to the seedy hotel room and the woman currently lying next to him, and he rolled over to face Ix. "I love my wife," he said in a low, serious voice. "Don't be mistaken."

Ix had to try very hard to keep the wicked grin from spreading across her face. Somehow she managed to stay just as serious as he was. "Oh, I know," she whispered. And she did know. Many of the naughty things the Captain had done in his life were done for the sake of his wife. For the sake of giving her a better life, for the sake of giving her a child. "And your daughter, too," Ix added, her tone suddenly cold and full of business.

The man sat up in the bed at her words, unable to mask his surprise. "How do you know of my daughter?" he demanded.

Ix let herself smile. "I know everything about you, Captain."

He squinted at her in confusion, she could almost see his frantic thoughts in the way his eyes searched her face. She waited for him to find the answers there, dropping all that remained of the harmless prostitute demeanor as if it were nothing more than a cloak that could be changed out at will. Her golden eyes remained fixed on him, staring him down as patiently as a nexu about to pounce on a bark rat.

At last his eyes widened in realization. She saw a multitude of emotions cross his handsome features - shock, disbelief, wonder, fear… She took the opportunity to affirm his suspicions, "It's time to pay your debt."

The man swallowed visibly. "I told them I would have the credits –"

"Two months ago, Captain," Ix finished for him, finally pushing herself into a sitting position. "The deadline passed two months ago. Your _second_ deadline, I might add. The Exchange has been very patient with you."

"Another week," he whispered. "I will have it in another week."

Ix shook her head disapprovingly, gesturing toward the night table where the handful of credits he had promised her sat innocently. "Not if you keep spending your wages on cheap whores and glitterstim," she said pointedly.

His eyes darted toward his blaster on the footlocker at the end of the bed, then back to her face. "You weren't that cheap," he said hoarsely.

"And I'm not a whore, either," she countered. "Regardless, my superiors will not be happy to learn of your lavish lifestyle these past two months. They do not take kindly to people who spend their credits on personal pleasures instead of paying back an outstanding debt."

The man's eyes went again to his weapon.

"Don't," Ix warned.

He lunged for the blaster but the woman had anticipated his move and sprung alongside him. She landed with him just as he scooped up the weapon; they both slid across the top of the footlocker and crashed to the floor in a heap. Ix sprang to her feet first; Dehner struggled to free his gun arm from the accompanying sheet. He finally wrenched it free, but just as the blaster barrel swung up to take aim, Ix brought her bare heel down into the man's temple as hard as she could. The force of her blow sent his head into the floor with a crack and the blaster dropped from his fingers. Ix picked it up and considered using it, but then decided a blaster was too boring. Her way of doing things was much more fun.

She threw the weapon to the far side of the room and grabbed a fistful of the man's dark hair. His eyes were still glazed as she drug him to his knees, but he managed to throw up a fist that caught the edge of her jaw and snapped her head around, making her teeth click together so hard she almost bit through her tongue. She scowled as the taste of blood filled her mouth, anger burning hot in her blood as her lust had just hours earlier. She took his hair in both hands and slammed his forehead into the sharp edge of the footlocker with all her might.

The man went limp for a split second, but he successfully fought to remain conscious and tried once more to get to his feet. Ix took advantage of his sluggish, disoriented state and kept a tight grip on his hair with her right hand as she reached down and caught his left wrist with her left hand. She twisted his arm brutally behind his back, wrenching a gruff cry from his throat and effectively stilling his struggles. She planted a knee in his back for good measure and shoved his head down cheek-first against the footlocker. She held him like that and paused, breathing heavily, to see if he would try something else.

He didn't.

His chest heaved with his labored breathing and his teeth were clenched in what Ix could only guess was pain. She held his left arm only a few inches from shoulder dislocation and the bloody gash across his forehead had already begun to swell.

Ix tossed her head to get the hair out of her face, spit a wad of blood onto the floor, and smiled. "The Exchange has lost patience with you, Captain," she said conversationally, as if their struggle had never happened. "They sent me to collect on your debt. So I ask you, do you have the fifty thousand you owe to Davik Kang?"

The man's blue eyes rolled to look at her from his peripheral vision. "I have… thirty thousand," he ground through his teeth, and Ix leaned more weight onto the knee in his back.

"Then I will take the thirty thousand," she said. "As for the other twenty thousand –"

"Next week," the man gasped; his ribs pressed uncomfortably between Ix and the footlocker. "I'll have it… I swear…"

"No," Ix whispered, her fingers tightening in his hair. "Not next week. _Now_."

"I can't," Dehner insisted. "I… don't have it!"

"In that case," Ix commented softly, "the Exchange is prepared to offer you a choice in how you would like to repay the remaining twenty thousand. We are an organization of business, after all, and are not opposed to… _negotiation_."

The man squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then opened them again. Blood from the slash on his head slowly pooled on the lid of the footlocker, and Ix wondered how long he would stay conscious. "Name what you want," he spat.

Ix reinforced her grip on his wrist, knowing his fragile hope would be shattered once he learned of his choices. But this was her favorite part. Watching the agony of indecision, the powerfulness of greed, the humility of self-sacrifice… "You know, of course," she began, "that Davik Kang will want to take the twenty thousand out of _you_. Whether that means dooming you to torture or slavery or both is up to him, but it is certain you will never return to your family."

Dehner squeezed his eyes shut again and Ix watched him swallow hard.

"Or," she countered lightly, "you may go on about your life, with your whores and your spice, and in your place Kang is willing to accept either your wife or your daughter."

"No!" the man barked, and Ix had to twist his arm a little more to calm his renewed fervor. "No," he repeated, now glaring up at her as best he could. "You touch either of them and I swear –"

"We will do nothing to them until you give me your answer," Ix interrupted him evenly. "Though there is no need for you to worry so much. Davik would not submit either of them to torture, only sell them into slavery. With their ages and backgrounds, they wouldn't have such a hard life -"

"You filthy schutta!" the man hissed, and he abruptly tried to bend his body to escape Ix's hold. She had been prepared, however, and immediately forced his wrist nearer to his neck until she heard a pop. Another cry tore itself from Dehner's throat and he stopped fighting her at once, his free fist clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Your answer?" Ix asked innocently. "Who do you wish to give Davik Kang in exchange for the twenty thousand? Your wife? Your daughter? Or yourself?"

"That's not a choice!" he gasped, his face paling to match his knuckles.

Ix leaned toward his ear. "It's the only choice you're going to get."

She watched him battle with himself; the fear of what Kang would do to him, the instinctual will to live, to survive – against the desire to protect those he loved, to keep them safe… against the possibility of living with himself if he chose to save himself instead. "Leave my family out of this," he growled hoarsely at last. "This is my debt. I'll settle it myself."

Ix lifted one thin, white eyebrow. His battle had been briefer than most. A glimpse at his true character, despite whatever pleasures he might be prone to enjoying in the dark corners of the galaxy. But then, he had not yet seen Davik Kang's "guest room". There was still a chance he might change his mind once exposed to the horrors kept in that chamber of the Kang estate. "Is that your answer, then?" she asked quietly.

He swallowed hard; gave a small nod of his head under the pressure of her hand. "Yes."

"Very well. In that case –"

The door burst open at just that moment and Ix turned her head to see who had dared interrupt her so rudely. Captain Ky Dehner took the opportunity, shoving himself backwards off the footlocker and knocking Ix off balance just enough that he was able to swing around and land his free hand in the back of her knee. She went down hard, but kept her grip on his hair and pulled him down with her. He swiftly straddled her, his good hand finding her throat and clutching in a vice-like hold. Ix sent a fist into the side of his neck, and then into his temple. His hold on her throat weakened; she landed another blow to his jaw and he fell sideways.

Ix pushed him off of her and sprang to her feet again, already facing her opponent once more, ready for another round. She had been trained in combat the same as he had, but it was obvious she had had more opportunity to keep up on her hand-to-hand tactics.

The man struggled to his feet and faced her, already stumbling. His left arm hung useless at his side; blood ran down the side of his face from the cut on his head and Ix's last punch had split his bottom lip. His blue eyes fixed her with a fierce glare from a face pale and damp with sweat. Ix allowed herself to enjoy the sight of him for a brief moment, and then she struck with two swift roundhouse kicks – the first to his chest, the second to his head.

Ky Dehner went spinning to the floor and didn't move. Ix tossed her hair out of her eyes, glanced down to the sticky smears of blood streaked across her hands and forearms, then turned her golden glare to the intruder still standing in the doorway. She put her hands on her hips and huffed indignantly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Calo Nord's eyebrows lifted above his goggles, and he holstered his two Mandalorian heavy blasters as he surveyed the scene in front of him. The messy bed, the discarded clothes, the credits on the night table, the unused blaster, and his target on the floor, bloodied and unconscious. His gaze finally found its way back to the woman standing unabashedly in full nakedness at the end of the bed.

He knew at once who she was; her looks and characteristics had been described to him by other members of the Exchange. The sight of the hotel room - and what he had witnessed upon bursting in the door - gave him a whole new understanding of what had been said about this woman. They had said she was beautiful, deadly, non-conventional in her tactics, and just as likely to shoot a guy as she was to sleep with him. The bounty hunter now fully understood how those rumors had gotten started. And he no longer thought the tales were all just rumors, either.

"Well?" she demanded, bringing Calo back from his thoughts.

"I came for Captain Dehner," he answered.

Ix sighed impatiently at the man's answer and moved over to retrieve her clothes. "You're a little late," she stated dryly. She knew who this bounty hunter was; she'd recognize that jawline anywhere. Calo Nord, one of Kang's newer recruits. The Taris boss made a point to notify most of his long-time employees when he made a new hire, and Nord had been no exception. Ix knew about the bounty hunter. She knew not to underestimate his abilities, even if he wasn't the most intimidating of men.

He came now to investigate his target's condition, nudging the man's shoulder with the toe of his boot.

"I wouldn't worry about him," Ix said, shrugging back into her shirt. "He's a tough one. Took a shot right to the head from this footlocker and didn't go down." She tapped the container's sharp edge with her fingertips, then made a slashing motion across her brow to illustrate her statement.

Calo Nord watched her dress as shamelessly as she had paraded around naked. "Do you do this to all the men you sleep with?"

Ix laughed at the question, glancing to the bounty hunter as she buckled her boots. "No, of course not. But to tell you the truth, I wanted to fuck Ky Dehner the minute I saw him. I had to wait two long months for Davik to give me word that the good Captain's time was finally up. So, there was no way in hell I was going to let this night pass without fucking him first. You know what I mean."

Calo looked back down to the man's prone form. "Er… sure."

"He says he's got thirty thousand in his accounts," Ix continued, all business now. "I'll let the boss know – he'll be able to withdraw it."

"And the other twenty?" Calo asked.

Ix scooped the credits off the night table and dumped them into her belt pouch - a tip for her troubles - then tied her hair back into a ponytail. "The Captain has elected to turn himself over to Davik. Although… I'm going to wait to call off our associates on Coruscant until we're sure he won't change his mind."

Calo nodded in understanding.

"Well," the woman quipped cheerfully, "since you're here, you wouldn't mind taking our friend here back to Taris, would you? I have some other business to finish before I leave Nar Shaddaa."

"You gonna let me collect the bounty on him?" Nord asked, crossing his arms expectantly.

"Of course," Ix replied, going to the corner to retrieve the Captain's blaster. "I already got what I wanted out of him." She stuck the weapon into her belt and turned to face the bounty hunter. "But knock next time, would you?"

A corner of Calo's mouth curved. "Sure."

Ix knew he wouldn't, but it didn't matter. She didn't plan to be screwing any more of Davik's debtors any time soon, anyway. "Thanks."

The bounty hunter grunted. "You could have at least let him put his pants back on before you beat the shit out of him."

The woman shrugged and moved for the door. "He'll wake up pretty soon. He's a big boy; make him dress himself." She tossed Nord a wink and then left the hotel room. "I'll see ya back at the estate," she called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.

Calo Nord scowled, looking back down to the mess at his feet. He had heard Ix often left others to pick up after her… another rumor he was finding to be based in fact. The bounty hunter decided he would keep better tabs on the woman from now on. He didn't want to be stuck cleaning up after her again.

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TO BE CONTINUED...

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	2. Some Other Business

**Author's Note:** So I guess this chapter didn't come as soon as I thought it would! But at long last, this fic is continued... As usual, many thanks to my tireless beta Rian Sage!

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**Some Other Business**

Ix sat at the bar in one of Nar Shaddaa's many cantinas, peering through the smoky haze to watch the people at the pazaak tables. The man she had come there to meet was currently engaged in a game, and she kept careful track of how badly he repeatedly lost to the dark-haired man across from him.

The other man was very, very good, Ix noted, and had she been in Kang's territory instead of Visquis', she would have approached the man for a little chat – either to offer him some sort of money-making contract in Davik's favor, or to find out how he was cheating and kill him for it.

As it were, Ix only watched with amused interest as her contact promptly dropped two thousand credits. The burly man scowled and threw down his hand of cards in disgust, rising from the table so abruptly his chair fell over.

"Hey," his dark-haired opponent quipped readily, scooping the pile of cred-chips toward his ever-growing stack. "Anytime you've got a couple thousand burning a hole in your pocket again, you come find me."

Ix's contact lunged across the table, but his smaller adversary leapt nimbly from his chair and drew his blaster. As was common in most Nar Shaddaa establishments, the other patrons of the cantina pretended not to notice the weapon. "Hey now," the dark-haired man warned, "no one likes a sore loser."

Ix saw her contact go for his weapon. "Lonnik," she barked, stopping the man in the middle of his draw. He startled at the sound of his name, glancing around for its source until his dark gaze found hers. He froze for a second, as if surprised to see her, and Ix nodded pointedly toward the empty bar stool next to her.

Lonnik Colnn hesitated, turning to glare again at his pazaak opponent, but then he reluctantly holstered his blaster. "Get outta here," he growled toward the other man, "before I accuse you of cheating and have you thrown out."

"Cheating?" his opponent scoffed, unfazed by the threat. "Listen pal, if you don't know how to play you shouldn't sit at the table!"

"Lonnik!" Ix's voice cracked like a whip; once more stopping her contact from beating the life out of the dark-haired pazaak player. Both men looked at her expectantly, along with half the cantina's population. But Ix kept her eyes on the man she had come to meet. "We have business," she said evenly, nodding again toward the bar stool.

The man grumbled, sent another deadly glare toward his pazaak opponent, and then grudgingly made his way across the crowded floor to the seat Ix had indicated. The cantina's patrons went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened, but the woman kept her eyes on the other man for a moment. It seemed he was going to take Lonnik's advice. He pocketed his winnings, and with a nod and a roguish smile toward one of the dancers, he left. Ix committed his looks to memory, knowing it might be worth something someday to dig around and see what she could find out about him.

For now, however, she had business with Lonnik Colnn. Ix turned her attention back to the broad-shouldered man as he took his seat and ordered a stiff drink.

"Dangerous to make a scene like that here," she commented blandly. "You don't want any of Visquis' guys to see us chatting, do you?"

Lonnik scowled. "He had a skifter up his sleeve, I know he did."

Ix raised a brow. "Looked like a straight player to me," she said. "And I'm excellent at catching cheaters." She smiled in a wickedly meaningful way.

Lonnik only grunted unhappily, snatching his drink from the bartender.

Ix went back to business. "I hope that wasn't _my _money you just pissed away," she drawled, running a finger around the rim of her glass.

"Of course not," he growled. "I ain't stupid."

"Could'a fooled me."

He shot her a sharp glare but knew better than to smart back.

"So," she prodded. "Let's see it."

The man glanced around furtively to be sure they weren't being watched, then reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and removed several cred-chips. He handed them over to her and she counted them swiftly, then looked up at him skeptically from beneath her brows. "What the hell is this?"

"Your money," Lonnik answered simply.

Ix narrowed her golden gaze and leaned toward the man ominously. "Is there something else you'd like to tell me?"

"No… that's all there is this quarter."

"Lonnik, it's _half _of what you usually give me."

The man shrugged and shifted uncomfortably on the stool. "Yah, well… Saquesh has been hemming in the refugees even more lately. Makes it a lot harder to kidnap any of 'em without him noticing."

Ix watched him silently for a long moment, trying to read his face.

He squirmed under her scrutiny. "Come on, Ix," he said desperately. "You know what Visquis would do to me if he found out I was stealing from his slave cache! And if he discovered Kang was getting a cut…" Lonnik shook his head helplessly. "Neither of us wants that, Ix. I'm just trying to be careful, to keep from being exposed. That's all. Business'll pick up again before too long." The man tried to crack a smile. "Nar Shaddaa will always attract plenty of poor, unfortunate souls to take advantage of."

Ix straightened in her chair. "I see," she said tonelessly. "So that two thousand you just dropped… that was your own, personal money?"

"That's right," Lonnik answered shortly.

"And where the hell did you get that from?"

The man shifted again. "It was my share of the quarterly slave market profits."

"And the rest of it?"

"From my other job…"

"Your _other _job?" Ix repeated, leaning forward again. "Lonnik, if that's why you're sales were down –"

The man shook his head vigorously. "No. No, Ix. I only took that other job after I realized my sales weren't going to cover my monthly expenses. I swear."

"And what exactly did this other job entail?"

Lonnik hesitated, then swallowed down the rest of his drink and signaled for a second. "It was just a routine cargo run. You know, easy stuff."

"Enlighten me," Ix whispered, her voice deadly quiet.

Lonnik coughed into his hand. "Some rich aristocrat on Coruscant wanted me to fly in some stuff under radar. Nothing major."

"Smuggling?" Ix hissed.

"Well… _technically_ I guess you could call it that…"

"And the cargo?"

The man cleared his throat. "Ix, it was just a side job –"

"Then why don't you want to tell me about it?"

"I don't mind telling you about it," Lonnik insisted. "It's just that I don't understand why you're –"

"You don't need to understand," Ix snapped. "Now answer my questions or I'm telling Davik you shorted him."

Lonnik grimaced at the thought, lifting his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. Don't get antsy on me." The bartender set down the man's second round; he threw it back all at once with a wince and then set the glass heavily back to the bar. "I, uh… I ran some spice."

Ix looked around the cantina, then back to the man waiting anxiously in front of her, her fingers curling around the haft of her vibroshiv. "You did _what_?"

He swallowed hard. "It was a one-time thing, Ix. I'm not a smuggler, you know that. I find slaves for the market and sell them, that's my job. I only did the one run, and only to cover my expenses –"

In one swift motion, Ix stabbed her blade into the man's right hand, pinning it to the bar, and Lonnik Colnn's sentence broke off in a gruff cry. "Shhh," she whispered into his ear, smiling gently as she leaned her weight onto the knife's handle. "Don't want to make a scene, remember? Some of Visquis' guys just came in the back… if they come up here, I'll let them know what you've been up to these past few years. I'll conveniently forget to mention your connection to Davik, of course, but I don't think they'll be too happy with you, regardless."

Lonnik clenched his jaw against the pain; she saw his left hand curl into a fist, but he did nothing. Apparently he had also seen Visquis' cronies in the back of the cantina, and Lonnik had dealt with Ix often enough to know her threats were always valid. Still, the man's dark glare made it perfectly clear he would gladly retaliate, if given the chance. Ix didn't plan to give him one.

"Now," she continued, still whispering, "why don't you tell me a little more about this smuggling job of yours?"

"Why don't you get your knife outta my hand first?" he countered through gritted teeth.

Ix grunted, shaking her head. "Nope. Not till you tell me what I want to know." She twisted the blade just slightly to emphasize her point; Lonnik rose from his chair briefly, his free hand dropping toward his blaster, but then he glanced back to the thugs lurking in the rear of the cantina and sat back down. He wiped his left palm against his pants and Ix noticed his breathing had quickened considerably. She gave the vibroshiv another quarter turn, and Lonnik squirmed on the stool.

"Okay, all right," he hissed. "For stars' sake, ease off!"

Ix smiled, signaling the bartender for another drink, though she still kept a firm hold on her knife. "I must say you've disappointed me, Lonnik," she said matter-of-factly. "Spice is a very precious commodity. And you know as well as I that not just anyone can have it shipped out or in. More than that, you know the Exchange wants to control any such shipments if they can. Yet I know you didn't fly that shipment for Davik. And I have a feeling you weren't flying for Visquis, either. So I suppose the question I'd most like answered would be... who exactly _were _you flying for, Lonnik?"

"No one important," he answered hoarsely, and far too quickly. "Look, Ix, I only work for Davik. I wouldn't fly for another boss... this guy was a nobody, I checked him out beforehand, don't worry..."

Ix accepted her drink from the bartender; the humanoid tossed a fearful glance toward Lonnik's impaled appendage, then hastily scurried away to the other side of the bar. Ix turned her golden glare back to the man across from her and casually tipped her glass; the ale spilled over its edge and splashed onto Lonnik's hand. The man jumped from his stool as the alcohol seeped into the open knife wound, but he choked back the cry before it reached his lips.

"Whoops," Ix said, shrugging innocently. "How clumsy of me." She took a sip of the ale, but kept her gaze locked on Lonnik's face. The man acted again like he wanted to go for his blaster, but he resisted. She knew his thoughts. As long as he played her game he had a chance of leaving the cantina alive. If he drew his blaster against her, however, his chances of survival severely diminished. Even if he managed to escape the cantina, Davik would have him hunted to the far ends of the galaxy. It wasn't worth it to him to chance that yet. Yet. "Who were you flying for, Lonnik?" she asked again, very calmly.

The man fidgeted, and Ix began to tilt her glass of ale again. "It was a Hutt," he finally ground out. "A flaming Hutt, okay? For the love of -" A short bark of pain escaped him as Ix brutally twisted her blade into his hand.

"A Hutt?" she spat. "A _Hutt_? Have you lost your mind?"

"He was nobody important -"

"He was important enough to hire someone to fly his own personal load of spice to his residence," Ix snapped, and her fingers tightened on the knife haft until her knuckles turned white. "And you went to a Hutt for a job over the Exchange?" She shook her head. "Very, very bad decision, Lonnik Colnn. Doesn't make you look good."

"Ix, I -"

"Visquis will be very unhappy to learn of your activities within his territory," she said meaningfully, raising her voice just enough to be heard over the cantina's general din.

Lonnik's rugged face paled, but his eyes sharpened, and he fixed the white-haired woman with a hard gaze. "Don't do this," he whispered. "I'm not working for them, it was only one job."

"To think you were stealing his property, right from under his nose," Ix continued, her voice slightly louder.

"This won't do Davik any good," Lonnik insisted, trying a different approach. "If Visquis gets a hold of me... Davik won't get his cut..."

"And to think you kept all that money to yourself, and then wasted it on pazaak, all without Visquis knowing..."

"Ix, I'll find a way to double Davik's profits," the man said, a note of desperation in his tone. "You won't get anyone else as good as me."

But Ix saw the thugs had taken notice of her carefully planned words and now moved in her direction. She shook her head again, fixing Lonnik with a truly unsympathetic look. "Too late, my friend," she crooned. "How is Davik supposed to trust you now that you've worked for a Hutt? He can't. And if he can't trust you, _I_ can't trust you. And if we can't trust you, then what good are you?"

Lonnik's eyes darted toward Visquis' approaching men, then to Ix, then to the knife still embedded in his hand. In that split second of hesitation, Ix reached across with her left hand and snatched the man's blaster from its holster. He immediately threw an answering left hook toward her face, but Ix ducked it and slid off her stool, releasing her grip on the knife and firing a shot into Lonnik's knee.

The man screamed as the bolt chewed through his kneecap, and now the whole cantina population turned to stare. Visquis' men quickened their pace; Lonnik yanked Ix's knife from his hand and hurled it at her, the blade nearly nicked her bicep as she dodged away and buried itself in the chest of a nearby Bith. The alien gave a surprised, gurgling cry, then collapsed heavily to the cantina floor.

Ix hardly noticed; her full attention focused on Lonnik as the man rose from his stool and turned laboriously to face her, fists clenched at his sides. His ruined knee was a mass of burned tissue and splintered bone; blood dripped steadily from the hole her blade had made in his hand. Only his sheer force of will kept him upright... Ix had never doubted his strength, nor his skills as a slave marketer. But his most recent mistake could not be overlooked. She shook her head, regretting the loss.

Lonnik's weight shifted forward; Ix spun in a kick and caught him in the temple. The man crashed unconscious to the floor, taking a nearby table and several schooners of ale with him. The occupants of the table screeched and leapt from their chairs, clearing the way for the group of Visquis' men, who finally reached the scene of carnage with hands on their weapons.

"What the hell is going on here?" the one in the lead demanded.

Ix looked at him - a big, brawny, long-haired human male - and sighed, gesturing toward the prone Lonnik Colnn. "I've just discovered this man has been kidnapping people from the Refugee Sector to sell as slaves," she said simply. "Without including Visquis in his sales. Thought you might want to know about it."

"Oh yah?" The man's fingers tightened around his blaster grip. "And how abouts did you find that out?"

Ix smiled wryly. "Maybe you should be asking yourself how it was you didn't know about it. I'm sure Visquis relies on men like you to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen in his territory. I'm also sure he would be fairly unhappy to discover how miserably you've failed at your job."

The man released his weapon, crossing his arms, and the others behind him shifted on their feet. "What do you want?" he asked.

Ix shrugged, reaching behind her for her drink and taking another sip. "Nothing," she answered cheerfully. "I'm just passing through town. So, I'll go ahead and let you boys take credit for finding this guy." She nodded toward Lonnik. "Just get rid of him, would you? The Exchange doesn't need rogues like him upsetting our business."

"Of course not," the lead thug agreed, obviously relieved at the fact Ix had no favors to ask of him. "We'll take care of him. Don't worry." He motioned to those behind him and three of them moved forward to lift Lonnik Colnn's massive weight.

"Oh, I'm not worried," Ix said, resuming her seat on her stool and turning her back on the group of Visquis' guys. "I'm certain you can handle this one, simple task."

She half-expected to get an angry retort at her comment, but the group said nothing else as they slowly and with much difficulty maneuvered their unconscious catch to the door. Ix watched them go, then grunted in amusement and ordered a third drink as the rest of the cantina patrons uncertainly resumed their conversations once more. She had no doubt Lonnik would attempt to implicate Davik Kang once Visquis' men began interrogating him, but Davik had made sure there was no proof. And without proof, Lonnik's word would never hold up against hers. And, of course, she fully intended on telling Visquis about the utter failings of his crew. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy her drinks and contemplate potential replacements for Lonnik Colnn. And maybe, if there was time, find a handsome man to screw.

She wondered if it was too late to catch up to that dark-haired pazaak player.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *


End file.
